Jim Burns — A Libertarian for President

Some Background

I discovered the Libertarian Party (LP) in September of 1973. By January of the next year, I had been elected chairman of the Nevada LP. At that time, the LPN was faced with a seemingly impossible task. We couldn't get on the ballot because we did not have enough resources to get the necessary 5% of Nevada voters to sign our ballot petition. We also faced another problem: The state would not allow anyone to register "Libertarian."

To overcome these problems, we came up with a rather unique solution -- we would run a candidate for office anyway. The truth of the matter is, I was the only one in the party at that time who could be conned into running. Which is probably fair, since it was mostly my idea.

We all have sins; one of mine was that in 1974, I was a registered Republican. As a registered Republican, at least I could get on the ballot. But how to use this to leverage the Libertarian cause? Simple, once you think of it. I legally changed my middle name to "Libertarian." My name appeared on the ballot in the Republican Party primary as "Burns, James Libertarian." I didn't win, but we got noticed. We gained experience.

In 1975, I ran for mayor of Las Vegas, a non-partisan office. In that race, I dropped "James." "Burns, Libertarian" was what voters saw on the ballot. I broke ground in that race by running the first LPN TV spots. I came in 5th in a field of nine. The LPN got bigger. We convinced the Attorney General to allow Nevadan's to register "Libertarian." Not entirely by chance, I was the very first registered Libertarian in the state of Nevada.

In 1976, I led the first successful Nevada Libertarian ballot petition drive, we got the necessary 5%, and the LPN was on the ballot. I was the first candidate in Nevada history to file for office as a Libertarian: Congress again. We didn't get enough votes to stay on the ballot, but the LPN got stronger.

In 1978, I financed and led the second successful ballot drive. I ran for the assembly. I was the first LPN candidate to come in second in a three-way race, and the first LPN candidate to get more votes than a Republican.

In 1996, I ran for the assembly. I came in second in a three-way race.

In 1998, I ran for Congress again. I came in third in a four-way race. I got more votes than a former Clark County chairman of the Republican Party.

I have twice been Chairman on the LPN, twice Clark County (Las Vegas) Chairman, Southern Regional Representative of the LPN Executive Committee, and twice as At-Large Representative of the LPN Executive Committee.

I have been a delegate to four national LP conventions, and in 1979, I was a member of the National Platform Committee. I am a life member of the National LP.

You may wonder why I do not say anything about the 1980's. Well, in the 1980s, I put my thoughts into action. I fought the IRS. I almost got it right — but not quite. On January 18, 1980, I was convicted of failure to file income tax returns. I served 9 months in jail. As you can imagine, the IRS and I did not get along well in the 1980's — in fact, not until about 1992. Since then, we pretty much leave each other alone.

Jim Burns, February 1, 1946, Long Beach, California — which makes me more than 35 years old and a United States citizen and thus qualified to be President (Article 2, Section 1).

Jim Burns